Originally Posted by
DrMcNinja
I'm really saddened by all these hateful comments crudding on Soldaer recently, and as an older longtime fan from outside Europe it especially hurts to see it come from younger English fans. To give some context I live in Chicago, and don’t know many fellow United fans, soccer’s not big here, and I just wanted to share my emotions with people who love Old Gunner Soldier as much as I do. The first soccer game I ever saw was United vs Tottenham in 1999 because one of my British friends was a United fan. He was over, and didn’t want to miss the game. He gave me the entire context of why that game was so important. From that Beckham goal to edging against Hot Spurs, to that Scholes goal in the Emirates Cup final, all the way to the famous words ‘Soljahr has won it!!’ To me, it was the greatest story ever told. All I’ve known since then is success, barring Mourinho’s incredible Chelsea roster. I remember the days of when there were murmurs of Fergie stepping down, and also the day we finally got it right. There was arrogance in this soccer franchise, and romance beyond measure. I mean, we still sing Forlan’s name because he scored against Liverpool. He was a flop, but we adore him. Macheda is gosh knows where, but we still watch that goal against Vanilla over and over again. All of that was decimated when Fergie left. I still remember RvP’s words during that season under Moyes, he said ‘We will be back. You write this down, we will be back.’ I was convinced that we would, because all I had ever known was success as a United fan. We always come back, I thought. But as the years went by, we lost that. We lost our arrogance, we even became numb to it. I remember telling my friend when we went out against Sevilla that I just want us to be relevant again. I just want to have a big UCL finals, and for us to do something dramatic. Olle’s given us that, and more. Let us enjoy this moment, and let us sing and dance and love this franchise more than we have ever done before. I don’t know if McTominay or Fred or Sanchez or even Youngy are good enough, but they are at this franchise and something special is happening here at the moment. ‘This may, just be the beginning.’ Glory Glory Man United, Glory Glory to y'all.